Dispenser screw cap and overcap



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 iyJ Filed Oct. 26. 1967 PM"? NTOR. Willwm R. O Donnell Sept. 1, 1910 W. R. O'DONNELL DISPENSER SCREW CAP AND OVERCAP Filed Oct. 26, 1967 68 I I "IO M a '19, W6 i T 9 80 62 55 6D 64 I F 94 v 99 98 X I00 M W l I no M I \06 INVENTOR.

United States Patent O 3,526,343 DISPENSER SCREW CAP AND OVERCAP William R. ODonnell, Trumbull, Conn., assignor to Valve Corporation of America, Bridgeport, Conn., a corporation of Delaware Filed Oct. 26, 1967, Ser. No. 678,433 Int. Cl. B65d 83/14 US. Cl. 222182 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A protected-type dispenser screw cap comprising an inverted cup with internal screw threads, said cup carrying a dispensing pump assemblage having a reciprocable plunger projecting above the cup. An overcap comp-rising an inverted cup is at its bottom rim portion frictionally held by the screw cap and encloses the projecting plunger. The screw cap and the rim portion of the overcap have cooperable ribs and grooves whereby the overcap can function as a wrench to screw the screw cap onto the threaded neck of a container. This eliminates a later assembly operation, and creates a new method of initial assembly.

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICA- TIONS AND PATENTS US. Pat. No. 3,198,403. US. Pat. No. 3,148,805. US. Pat. No. 3,228,570. US. Pat. No. 3,228,571. US. Pat. No. 3,248,022. U.S. Pat. N0. 3,263,868. U.S. Pat. No. 3,306,497.

BACKGROUND This invention relates to small pump-type dispensers wherein the reciprocable pump assemblage is carried by a screw cap which is screwed onto the container neck.

Heretofore, dispensers of the kind indicated were sometimes provided with overcaps frictionally carried by the screw caps and enclosing the pump plunger to protect the same and prevent inadvertent or undesired actuation of the pump. Such overcaps are especially useful on constructions wherein the pump plungers normally occupy raised positions, in readiness for immediate operation.

With this type of arrangement, the overcap was put in place last, after the screw cap and its pump assemblage had been applied to the filled container. This involved a separate operation, and necessitated handling of the assembled dispenser, racking, etc. Also, if the overcaps were applied by hand, there was always the possibility that the plunger would be inadvertently actuated, result- Copending application of Elmer Lipman, Ser. No.

ice

ing in waste or contamination or both. As a consequence, the applying of the overcap represented an added expense and possibly other drawbacks.

SUMMARY The disadvantages of the prior devices and arrangements as set forth above are obviated by the present invention, and one object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved combination dispenser screw cap and pump together with overcap therefor, wherein no additional assembly operations are required after applying the screw cap to the filled container, and wherein an improved initial assembly method is evolved. This is accomplished by so constituting the screw cap and overcap that the latter can function as a wrench for the screw cap, and by attaching the overcap to the screw cap and pump assemblage prior to applying such assemblage to the filled container. Preferably the knurling or ribbing which is conventionally provided on screw caps to constitute a finger grip, is utilized as part of a splining connection between the screw cap and overcap, to effect the drive therebetween. For cooperation with such ribbing, the interior of the lower rim portion of the overcap has ribs or grooves or both which mesh with the ribbing to prevent relative turning between the caps while at the same time permitting easy application and removal of the overcap.

The method of the invention embraces applying the overcap to the screw cap and pump assemblage prior to the latter being screwed onto the filled container.

Other objects of the invention are to provide an improved screw cap and protective driver-type overcap combination in accordance with the foregoing, which is especially simple, economical to produce, and elfective and reliable in operation.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view partly in axial section and partly in side elevation, of a pump-type dispenser provided with the improved screw cap and overcap combination of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the screw cap and overcap assemblage as employed in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the screw cap and overcap construction, the overcap being shown in axial section.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary horizontal section, enlarged, taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a view like that of FIG. 4, but illustrating a modified form of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a view partly in axial section and partly in side elevation, illustrating another modified form of screw cap and overcap assemblage.

FIG. 7 is a view partly in axial section and partly in side elevation, illustrating still another screw cap and overcap construction.

FIG. 8 is a view partly in axial section and partly in side elevation of yet another embodiment of the inven tion.

Referring first to FIGS. l-4, there is illustrated a dispensing container or bottle 10 of the type having an externally threaded neck 12 with an annular shoulder 14 disposed below the neck 12.

Carried by the neck portion 12 of the container 10 is a screw cap and pump assemblage designated generally by the numeral 16 in FIG. 3. The said assemblage comprises an inverted cup-shaped screw cap 18 having a Hat top or horizontal wall 20 and an annular internally threaded side wall 22 adapted to be screwed onto the threaded neck portion 12 of the container.

The top wall 20 of the screw cap 18 has a central opening, through which there extends the operating plunger 24 of a pump structure designated generally by the numeral 26 in FIG. 1. The pump structure has a tubular housing or cylinder member 28 provided with an outturned flange 30 at its upper end, said flange being clamped between the top lip of the neck portion 12 of the container and the top wall 20 of the screw cap so as to securely mount the pump and plunger assemblage with the pump disposed in the upper portion of the container as shown.

On its top, the plunger 24 has a finger piece or button 32 provided with an orifice 34 and so arranged that intermittent downward finger pressure on the button 32 will efiect a reciprocation of the plunger 24 and cause a discharge of liquid substance from the orifice piece 34. It will be understood that the pump construction 26 includes a spring (not shown) which normally yieldably holds the plunger 24 in the raised position illustrated.

The lower end of the cylinder or housing member 28 of the pump is connected with a dip tube 36 which extends closely adjacent the bottom of the container 10, as will be understood, for the purpose of bringing liquid to the cylinder.

Heretofore the screw cap and pump assemblage as described above has been screwed onto the neck of the container after filling of the latter, either by hand or a machine operation or both, and thereafter a protective overcap has been applied to the screw cap and pump assemblage to protect the same and prevent inadvertent actuation of the pump plunger. Such procedure has involved a separate and additional operation, which required handling of the assembled dispenser, racking, additional equipment adapted to handle and apply the overcap, and/or additional personnel.

In accordance with the present invention, such protective overcap is now applied to the screw cap and pump assemblage prior to the assemblage being screwed onto the filled container. Thus, there is eliminated the separate additional operation of applying the overcap at a later time, with the attendant disadvantages of the same.

Further, in accordance with the invention, the overcap as applied to the screw cap and pump assemblage prior to the latter being screwed onto the container, is constituted somewhat as a socket Wrench, in that it is utilized in a manner to effect the actual screwing on of the screw t cap and pump assemblage when the same is applied to the filled container.

Referring to FIGS. 1-3, the overcap is indicated generally by the numeral 38, and comprises an inverted cuplike structure having a transverse top Wall 40 and tapered 8 or conical tubular side wall 42 with a lower rim portion 44. The rim portion 44 is adapted to be frictionally fitted over the annular side wall 22 of the screw cap 18. Additionally, the inside of the lower rim portion 44 is provided with a plurality of spaced straight ribs or beads 46 adapted to mesh with cooperable beads 48 on the exterior of the screw cap 18.

The beads or ribs 48 on the screw cap may constitute the conventional straight knurling usually provided on screw caps to function as a finger grip. The beads or ribs 46, 48 thus are in the nature of splines, as can be clearly seen from an inspection of FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 3 it will be noticed that the bottom ends 50 of the ribs 46 are pointed or tapered, and by such organization in conjunction with the relatively thin or narrow construction of the external ribs 48 on the screw cap the mating or meshing of these is facilitated at the time that the overcap 38 is being applied to the screw cap assemblage. To increase the effectiveness of the pointed bottom ends of the ribs 46 in causing an easy and quick meshing of the supply portions of the overcap and screw cap, the ribs do not extend completely to the bottom edge of the overcap, but instead there is a smooth or relieved lead area below the ribs; besides this, the narrow ribs 48 of the screw cap may also be provided with pointed upper ends 52, all as seen in FIG. 3.

The overcap 38 as well as the screw cap 18 are preferably made of molded plastic composition and have a certain amount of yieldability or give. As a consequence, and with the construction illustrated and explained above I have found that the overcap 38 can always be completely and quickly applied fully to the screw cap 18, either by human operators or else by machinery. If during such application there is not perfect alignment of the beads or ribs of one part with the spaces between the beads or ribs of the other part, this will not matter inasmuch as a slight relative shifting will occur due to the provision of the pointed rib ends, due to the relative widths of the ribs and also the shallow nature of the grooves disposed between the ribs.

From an inspection of FIG. 4 it will be noticed that the ribs 46 and 48 are not of great height, that is, they are separated by relatively shallow grooves. Such construction facilitates the applying of the overcap 38 to the screw cap 18 but does not impair the gripping or drivig action between these parts to any practical extent, whereby slippage will not occur during the screwing on of the assembled components to the filled container 10.

As mentioned above, the assemblage of parts including the overcap 38 may be applied to the containers by hand or by machine, or by a combination of both procedures. In FIG. 1 there is illustrated a driving head 54 carried by a shank 56, said head being adapted to receive and confine the overcap 38 for the purpose of screwing the assamblage of overcap and screw cap onto the container 10. The driving head 54 may be provided with a rubber or other non-slip liner 58 or with any other suitable means to minimize the likelihood of slippage between it and the overcap 38.

It will be understood that the assembly procedure after filling of the bottle 10, comprises applying the assembled overcap 38 and screw cap 18 together with the pump assemblage 26 to the filled container and thereafter screwing on such assemblage either by hand or else by means of a driving head such as the head 54 shown in FIG. 1.

The novel method provided by the invention involves the steps of applying the overcap 38 to the assembled screw cap and pump structure 16, filling the container 18 to the required level, applying the assemblage of overcap and screw cap with pump to the filled container, and thereafter applying a turning force to the overcap 38 to tightly screw the screw cap 18 onto the container 10. Such applying of force to the overcap may be affected by bringing a hollow driving head in engagement with the overcap and thereafter turning the driving head, as is in part depicted in FIG. 1.

If, as shown, the driving head 54 extends downward a distance sufficient to enable it to also encircle the lower rim portion 44 of the overcap 38, a reinforcement of such rim portion will be effected whereby there is minimized any likelihood of slippage or stripping of the cooperable ribs 46, 48 past each other.

A modification of the invention as illustrated in FIG. 5, wherein the screw cap 18a having the top wall 20a is provided with relatively wide ribs 48a separated by relatively narrow grooves, and wherein the lower rim portion 44a of the overcap 38a is provided with relatively narrows ribs 46a separated by relatively wide grooves. The modification illustrated in FIG. 5 functions substantially in a manner similar to that already described above in conjunction with FIGS. 1-4.

Another embodiment of the invention is illustrated in FIG. 6, wherein a container 60 having a threaded neck 62 carries a dispensing pump 64 which is secured in place by a screw cap 66. Carried by the cap 66 is a rim 68 to which there is connected, by frangible webs 70, an actuator button 72 having an orifice piece 74. The button 72 is connected to the pump plunger 76 to actuate the latter in the well-known manner.

The screw cap '66 has an annular flange 78 provided with knurling or ribs, which are cooperable with internal ribs 80 on the inside of an overcap 82 which surrounds the actuator button 72 and also the screw cap 66. The overcap 82 thus has a driving connection with the screw cap 66 to enable it to be used in the manner of a socket wrench, for the purpose of screwing the screw cap and pump assemblage onto the filled container 60, in a manner already described above.

Another embodiment of the invention is illustrated in FIG. 7. There is shown here a screw cap 84 in which there is mounted a pump assemblage 86 having a plunger 88 carrying an actuator button 90 provided with a discharge orifice 92. The screw cap 84 carries a conical protective member 94 which extends around the button 90 and has a removable top piece 96 connected by frangible webs to the member 94. The top piece 96 constitutes a tamper-proof feature, and is removed and discarded by the consumer prior to the first use of the dispenser.

The screw cap 84 has an annular flange 98 provided with knurling or ribs 99 which are cooperable with internal ribs 100 provided on the inside of an overcap 102. Thus, the overcap 102 can constitute a socket wrench or driving piece, for screwing the screw cap 84 and pump assemblage onto the filled container.

Yet another embodiment of the invention is illustrated in FIG. 8. In this figure the filled container 104 has a screw cap 106 mounting a pump assemblage 108 which includes a plunger 110. On the screw cap 106 is a tubular upward extension 112 having an enlarged lower rim portion 114 provided with external knurling or ribs 116. An actuator button 118 is connected with the upward extension 112 by frangible webs 120, said button having an orifice piece 122. When the button 118 is depressed it will break the frangible webs 120 and can thereafter actuate the plunger 110 with a pumping action to effect a discharge from the orifice piece 122. Enclosing the screw cap and button assemblage is an overcap 124 having a lower rim portion 126 provided with ribs 128 arranged for meshing engagement with the ribs 116 of the enlarged rim 114 of the extension 112. By such organization, the overcap 124 can constitute a driving socket wrench, for screwing the assemblage of pump and screw cap 108, 106, 112 onto the filled container 104.

The operation of the embodiments of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 will be understood as substantially the same as that described for the embodiment of FIGS. 1-5. In each instance the lower portion of the overcap has interior knurling or ribs which are cooperable with exterior knurling or ribs provided on an assemblage of screw cap and pump, whereby the overcap can constitute a driving wrench to screw on the screw cap and pump to the filled container. In each case, the overcap is accordingly applied to the assemlage of screw cap and pump prior to the latter being assembled to the filled container.

It will be seen that the construction of overcap and screw cap with pump is especially simple, economical to fabricate, and capable of reliable operation without malfunctioning. By the organization provided there is eliminated the extra step of applying the overcap after the screw cap and pump assemblage has been assembled to the filled container. Thus, there is the resultant advantage of reduced cost, less handling of parts, stacking, and less likelihood of damage or inadvertent operation of the assembled dispenser.

The provision of the drive splines on the overcap and screw cap result in a new assembly method, in the producing of the completed dispenser. This method involves the steps of applying the overcap to the assembled screw cap and pump, and thereafter applying the resultant assemblage to a filled container and screwing it onto the latter using the overcap in part as a socket wrench.

Variations and modifications may be made within the scope of the claims, and portions of the improvement may be used without others.

I claim:

1. A protected dispenser cap construction including, in

combination:

(a) a screw cap comprising an inverted cup-shaped body having an annular side wall provided with internal screw threads for engagement with the threads of a container neck to secure the cap thereon,

(b) a reciprocable pump construction carried by said cap and including a plunger passing through the top wall of the cap and projecting upward therefrom,

(c) an overcap comprising an inverted cup adapted to surround the plunger which extends upward from the screw cap,

(d) said overcap having a bottom rim portion forcefully frictionally engaged with and completely around the exterior of the annular side wall of the screw cap, said engagement etfecting at all times a driving connection between the overcap and screw cap and constituting essentially the entire support of the overcap in operative position on the screw cap, said engagement further constituting the sole retention means of the overcap on the screw cap,

(e) cooperable spline means on the exterior of the screw cap and interior of the bottom rim portion of the overcap, enabling the latter to constitute a socket wrench part for screwing the screw cap onto the container neck,

(f) each one of said caps having a relieved circumferential surface adjoining the spline means thereof and constituting a free lead area engageable by the other cap,

(g) said cooperable spline means comprising ribs having tapered ends, said tapered ends and free lead areas facilitating assembly of the overcap on the screw cap.

2. A protected dispenser cap construction as in claim 1, wherein:

(a) the ribs on one cap are broader than the ribs on the other cap to facilitate assembly of the overcap on the screw cap.

3. A protected dispenser cap construction as in claim 1, wherein:

(a) the screw cap has an annular flange on its exterior,

(b) said cooperable spline means comprising ribs and grooves disposed on and in said annular flange.

4. A protected dispenser cap construction as in claim 3, wherein:

(a) the annular flange of the screw cap is disposed along its top edge.

5. A protected dispenser cap construction as in claim 1, wherein:

(a) said screw cap includes an upward tubular extension having an enlarged annular base portion,

(b) said cooperable spline means comprising ribs and grooves disposed on and in said annular base portion.

6. A protected dispenser cap construction as in claim 5, wherein:

(a) the upward extension of the screw cap comprises a member separate from the threaded portion of the screw cap,

(b) said separate member being affixed to said threaded portion.

7. A protected dispenser cap construction as in claim 1, wherein:

(a) said screw cap has an integral upward tubular extension,

(b) said cooperable spline means comprising ribs and grooves on said upward tubular extension.

7 8 8. A protected dispenser cap construction as in claim 3,293,938 12/ 1966 Nestor. 7, wherelm 3,396,604 8/1968 Samuels fit a1.

(a) said upward extension of the screw cap has an annular exterior flange on and in which said ribs SAMUEL F. COLEMAN Primary Examiner and grooves are disposed.

a N. L. STACK, J 11., Assistant Examiner References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS US. Cl. X.R.

3,148,805 9/1964 Corsette et a1. 222-384 22232l, 562 3,263,869 8/1966 Corsette 222-182 10 

